Today I am going to start writing about the feelings of adoption, for the adoptive parents. (There are of course also many feelings involved in adoption for the adoptees, birth parents and others involved which are equally as important if not more so, but since I am an adoptive parent, I will write about what I know).

In adoption email groups, forums, books and discussions, we often hear adoption described as an "emotional roller coaster". I cannot tell you how many times I... more

This morning I was back to waking up to the sound of my alarm going off at the hour of six a.m., which is not a time I have seen in awhile. Today is the first day of the new school year.

In preparation yesterday, we laid out new clothes for all eight of my kids that were heading off to school this year. We have Maggie and Amanda starting Kindergarten, Shane and Ben starting second grade, Des and Ryan starting fourth grade, Nathan starting sixth grade and Mercy starting seventh grade, which is her first year in middle school (or "junior high"... more

In my last post I wrote about getting the hair of my older daughters healthy during their first few years with us, and then making the decision to let them get extensions put in for school this year.

Last Thursday was the day we ventured to the black hair salon. We don't live in an area that has tons of places to choose from (in fact we drove three hours to get to this one, but were going out of town for other things, too). I had called around... more

My two oldest daughters are now 12 and 9. They came to us through a private, domestic adoption at the ages of nine and six. They are African-American, and I knew very little about "doing hair" at that point, because their placement happened very quickly and without much planning (Josh says we forgot to use our adoption "birth control").

I read books, visited websites and talked to other parents, and quickly got the basics down of washing, conditioning, braiding and twisting, and over time added to my collection of "doable hairstyles" and also got quite a bit faster at it.

Caring for my girls' hair at first... more

It is hard to believe that we are already well into August. Summer vacation where we live will come to an end in just two short weeks, and the kids will be back in school.

We have had a wonderful summer vacation full of traveling, swimming, hiking, playing, staying up late, visiting friends and family and getting good and dirty.

The break from school and activities has been a welcome one, and yet the excitement of a new school year has been fun this last week or so, too. I have a formidable pile of new backpacks, notebooks, crayons and clothing.... more

Today I am continuing on with answering transracial adoption questions from some of my blog readers. You can go on over to this post and leave a question of your own if you have one you would like to ask or if you have a topic you would like me to write about.

The question I am going to answer today is:

I now see the AA Santa's, AA Nativity sets, etc. How do you balance the holidays?

First off, while the holidays may seem a world away right now as we prepare for back to school and are cramming in a few more weekends at the lake, reality is that the holidays... more

In my last few posts I have been answering transracial adoption questions posted by readers (I am jumping around a little so I it seems that I have "skipped" your question, I promise I will get to all of them. Also, still feel free to go leave a question too.)

This question is not an easy one:

What do you think is the biggest difference between adult adoptees who resent their transracial placement and those who embrace it? As parents, what is the best way to ensure the latter?

First off, since I am not an adoptee, I cannot truly offer advice on this topic... more

Another one of the questions that was left on my blog last week was this one:

Any (very kind) witty remarks to keep up my sleeve for the busy bodies at the grocery store?

Becoming a transracial family is becoming a "highly visible" family. While in some areas and in some places and situations your family may blend in to some degree, chances are that no matter where you live, as a transracial adoptive family, your family is going to get some extra attention when you are out and about.

A lot of the attention my family gets is positive. A lot of people stop to tell us that our kids are beautiful or something like that. However we also get our... more

Hair care of black children is a frequently visited topic on transracial adoption email groups, forums and blogs. In the grand scheme of transracial adoption issues it may seem like a minor one to some, however hair is a very big deal in the African American community. When transracial adoptive parents take the initiative to learn how to properly care for and style their child's hair, they are showing respect to and pride in their child's heritage and culture and are helping their child develop a healthy racial self esteem.

I have spoken... more

There seems to be a prevalent habit amongst the general public of labeling anyone who lives their life outside of the narrow-minded guidelines of "normal", as "crazy".

You have more than three kids? You must be crazy.

You are adopting internationally? You must be crazy.

You chose to have a transracial family? You must be crazy.

You are adopting more than once? You must be crazy.

You adopted three kids in one year? You are crazy.

You adopted a child with HIV? You really are crazy.

You have 10... more